SUMMARY

Symantec products that ship and use a third-party Autonomy KeyView module have updated the module to address a buffer overflow vulnerability reported against the KeyView module.

AFFECTED PRODUCTS

Note:

Symantec DLP 7.x Detection Servers and Enforce are affected. DLP 7.x Endpoint Agents are NOT affected. 

Symantec DLP customers that need to update Symantec DLP 8.1 Detection Servers, Enforce, or Endpoint Agents MUST first update to Symantec DLP v8.1.1. 

Following application of the v8.1.1 upgrade apply the Symantec DLP 8.1.x hotfixes identified above.

ADDITIONAL PRODUCT INFORMATION

Products Not Affected

ISSUES

Severity

High
Low for SMS for SMTP and SMS Appliance

NOTE: SMS for SMTP and BrightMail Appliance run the Autonomy KeyView module out-of- process with limited privileges reducing the impact of this issue

MITIGATION

Details

iDefense Labs notified Symantec of a buffer overflow vulnerability reported against the Autonomy KeyView module shipped and installed by Symantec products identified above.

Symantec Response

Symantec product engineers have implemented updates for this issue in all affected product versions. 

In the Symantec Mail Security for SMTP and Symantec Mail Security/BrightMail Gateway Appliances, the Autonomy KeyView module processes are separated from the Symantec application processes (out-of-process) and have limited rights. This out-of-process method specifically addresses these types of security concerns. Any attempt to exploit the Autonomy KeyView module results in process termination of the offending thread and an error message generated to and handled by the specific application. 

Symantec knows of no exploitation of or adverse customer impact from these issues.

Update Information

Updates will be available from your normal support/download locations. 

SMS for Domino and Microsoft Exchange updates are available through the Platinum Support Web Site for Platinum customers or through the FileConnect -Electronic Software Distribution web site. 

Symantec DLP updates are available for download through secure file exchange.

Mitigation/Workaround

Temporary Workaround for Symantec Mail Security for Domino

Installations of SMS for Domino 7.5 that do not utilize the Content Filtering capabilities of the product are not susceptible to this issue. SMS for Domino 7.5 would be susceptible only if the attachment content scanning option is enabled. 

As an interim workaround, administrators unable to upgrade to the recommended solution may disable content filtering rules that contain parameters that specify scanning of attachment content. The rules do not need to be deleted, only disabled until the updated release is installed. 

To disable the content filtering rules for Symantec Mail Security for Domino

• Select the "Content Filtering" tab to display the list of current enabled rules
• Click on the checkmark to the left of any rules that utilize attachment content filtering, changing it to a red "X", and disabling the rule

Temporary Workaround for Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange

Installations of SMS for Microsoft Exchange 5.x that do not utilize the Content Filtering capabilities of the product are not susceptible. SMS for Microsoft Exchange 5.x is susceptible only if the attachment content scanning option is enabled. 

As an interim workaround, administrators unable to upgrade to the recommended solution may disable content filtering rules that contain parameters that specify scanning of attachment content. The rules do not need to be deleted, only disabled until the updated release is installed.

• To disable the content filtering rules for SMS for Microsoft Exchange:
• Select the "Policies" tab and then choose "Content Filtering" to display the list of currently enabled rules
• Ensure that all rules using attachment content are "disabled"

Temporary Workaround for Symantec Mail Security for SMTP and Symantec Mail Security/Symantec BrightMail Appliance

Risk from this vulnerability is limited on installations of SMS for SMTP and SMS/SBM Appliance in which the attachment content scanning option is enabled. However, installations that do not utilize the Content Filtering capabilities of the product are notsusceptible to this issue. 

As an interim workaround, administrators unable to upgrade to the recommended solution may disable content filtering rules that contain parameters that specify scanning of attachment content. The rules do not need to be deleted, only disabled until the updated release is installed. 

To disable the content filtering rules for SMS for SMTP and SMS Appliance:

• Log into the Management Console and navigate to the SMTP Scanning Settings screen
• Disable the item "Enable searching of non-plain text attachments for words in dictionaries", by deselecting the checkbox, and saving
• Disable any Compliance policies with a condition based on either:
  • a dictionary match 
    or an attachment content match against a string, regular expression, pattern or Record Resource.

Temporary Workaround for Symantec Data Loss Prevention Suite

Symantec DLP 7.x and v8.x Servers:

• Edit Vontu/Protect/lib/native/formats.ini
• Locate the entry "178=wp6" under the [Formats] section
• Replace with ";178=wp6".
• Restart all DLP services.
• Symantec DLP 8.x Endpoint Agents:
• Edit <Installation Root>\Agent\Verity\formats.ini
• Locate the entry "178=wp6" under the [Formats] section
• Replace with ";178=wp6".
• Restart all DLP services.

Best Practices

As part of normal best practices, Symantec strongly recommends: 

• Restrict access to administration or management systems to privileged users.
• Restrict remote access, if required, to trusted/authorized systems only.
• Run under the principle of least privilege where possible to limit the impact of exploit by threats.
• Keep all operating systems and applications updated with the latest vendor patches.
• Follow a multi-layered approach to security. Run both firewall and anti-malware applications, at a minimum, to provide multiple points of detection and protection to both inbound and outbound threats.
• Deploy network and host-based intrusion detection systems to monitor network traffic for signs of anomalous or suspicious activity. This may aid in detection of attacks or malicious activity related to exploitation of latent vulnerabilities

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This vulnerability was reported by an iDefense contributor who wishes to remain anonymous.

REFERENCES

Security Focus, http://www.securityfocus.com, has assigned a Bugtraq ID (BID) 34086 to this issue for inclusion in the Security Focus vulnerability database. 

This issue is a candidate for inclusion in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) list (http://cve.mitre.org), which standardizes names for security problems. The CVE initiative has assigned CVE-2008-4564 to this issue.